Training Your Enemies
by Dry Duck
Summary: Daniel, a young man who grew up terrified of Pokémon takes the phrase "Know your enemy" very seriously. Avoiding and studdying them from afar had been the only interaction he's ever had with the creatures, until one Pokémon changes his views forever.
1. Know Your Enemy

**My first fanfiction, looking forward to get some pointers here and there as to how to improve my writing early in the game. Wish you all enjoy ~ **

**Disclaimer: I own not Pokémon, but I love Lillipup and hope to own one soon.**

* * *

_Though she's mentioned it before, I never really took the time to consider it. A Pokémon trainer? I don't even get along with Pokémon. They're too noisy, saying the same thing over and over again. They never mind their business. They seem to either always want attention, or always want to bug me. But. As this one sat on my lap, my previous accusations of what these things really are were abandoned._

_But .. I guess I should start at the start.._

"Dan-!"

"I'm up." interrupting my mother's failed attempt to wake me up, as my eyes were already very much open, I tapped at the glass tank inhabited by a sleeping Caterpie. I heard my door creek open, expecting to hear a sigh, either directed toward my messy room, or the fact that this is my second all-nighter of the week.

"Another?"

I nodded firmly, making sure not to take my eyes off of the small, green creature.

"Maybe you should play with it, instead of studying it all night for your so-called 'research'" She said before casually leaving the room with a couple of dirty clothing she got from the floor.

"Play with it?!" I jumped up to follow her into the hallway. "You know I can't stand those things, Ma."

"Then why do you spend so much time looking at them?" Ma placed a couple of clothes in the wash.

"You know why! It's a Caterpie. They're only found in the Kanto region. Why in the heck would it be anywhere near Kalos?" My arms out, waiting for an answer.

"It migrated?"

Really? "Through water?"

She shrugged, losing interest I assumed. "Shouldn't you be watching that bug?"

I ran back into my room as fast as I could, only to see the demon still sleeping soundly. With that, I decided to get dressed and stop wasting my time.

"Daniel" I heard from down the hall, still stuffing my head through a clean shirt, "You've got company."

Company? I wasn't expecting anyone. I stuck my head out of my door to see who it could be. And there she was. The most flawless, perfect, gorgeously made way-to-ruin-my-day. Clarissa.

You would think a sixteen-year old boy being visited by a sixteen year old girl is romantic, right? This is very much not the case, you see. We can't stand each other. In fact, the only reason she stopped by is to get pointers from my mother (a retired Gym Leader), like she does every time. So it was no coincidence that we gazed dreadfully at one another upon eye contact.

"Oh, it's you." I muttered.

"Good morning, Daniel." She said as pleasantly as possible. Sweet, right? Keep in mind my mother was standing right next to her as she said it.

"Get along you two, I'll go fix up breakfast." Ma smiled, sliding into the kitchen.

I waved my arm to her down the hall, signaling her to follow. She arrived and immediately started. "Your room is gross. Do you ever clean?"

"Na."

"That's disgusting. Why would you call me in here when it looks like this?"

I pulled some desk drawers open, before I found my wallet and bag. I threw the glass tank over to her, who caught it, frantically. Finally throwing a black beanie atop my brown, braided hair, I headed out the door.

"H-Hey! Danny!"

"I told you not to call me that. It sounds girlish."

"Where are you going? And what is this I'm holding?" She looked at it in all angles before looking back at me once more.

"You mean where are we going. And that's a Caterpie."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Where are we going?"

Despite our resentment for one another, we still don't seem to mind going places with each other, we did grow up together after all. Can't fight that.

"We're just stopping by Aquacorde. It'll be real quick. I have to pick up some food for that Caterpie, otherwise it might die of starvation."

"And what about breakfast?" She twirled her hair with her finger as she always does out of habit.

What about breakfast? Oh I had an idea. "Ma! Clare says she's taking me out to eat, you don't mind do you?"

She glared at me with obvious killing intent as I plucked something out of my ear, hearing, "Shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean, the guy usually pays on a date." from the kitchen. We both frowned at the thought.

"Look, is that a yes or a no?"

It wasn't immediate, but I received the favorable response moments later and we headed out the door.

The town, Vanniville, how should I describe it? Well, I guess super small would be a good profile. Not much people, only a few houses. I never got why we lived here, I always wanted to take a trip to Lumiouse City, try and see what high population looked like but never got around to it. It's a hell of a distance away anyway, so I don't plan on doing that any time soon.

Oh, and to give you a picture as to what Clarissa looks like; you're typical blond hair and blue eyes. She's not all that attractive, though I may be a bit biased. She always has some orange scarf with her, she got from her grandmother or something. Other than that, her style of clothing could change from plain white T-shirt and basic jeans, to fashion model. Though it seems today she chose a more modest outfit with a white T-shirt again, short jeans to accompany—

"What are you looking at?" She frowned.

I just caught myself staring at her before I flashed back to reality and proceeded to walk forward.

I had my hands stuffed into the pockets of my leather-black jacket. Really, it wasn't the smartest thing to wear today, given the oh-so-annoying sun. I mean, it really wasn't the smartest thing to wear, but I couldn't resist it– made me feel cool, and what's wrong with that?

"Hey, Danny?"

I frowned, "My name's not Danny."

"Yeah, yeah. Question. If you hate Pokémon so much, why do you have a Caterpie?" She curiously asked, this time without a nagging tone in hope that I comply.

I shrugged. "Found it a few nights ago by route one. It seemed it had run away from something so I took it in, no real intentions."

She smiled, grabbing my shoulders, "Ohhhh~ you're falling in love with Pokémon?"

"I am not!" I stubbornly shouted, getting the attention of a Bunnelby. I yelped and quickly jumped behind my dreaded companion.

Clare laughed, hard, then had the audacity to call it toward us. I turned on my heel to leave the scene and she shortly followed.

"Why are you so afraid of them? If worst comes to worst you can use your humbled Caterpie to take it down." She held the glass tank up as of praising it, making a holy symphony and irritating the hell out of me.

I plugged my ears. "I'm not afraid. It's just their wild animals, I can't believe some humans get along with them."

"Some?" She pulled the tank back down, waking the Caterpie, "Don't you mean, 'everyone but me'?" She gave a grievous smile as she walked backwards in front of me, lowering her head into her shoulders, "Look, you should just become a Pokémon trainer, like me!"

I turned my head to the side as we both kept walking. "No way. And like you? You suck."

"I do not! My Fennekin's training is going pretty well."

"It's still low level." I sighed.

She walked back to my side, shoving the tank into my arms, making the green creature jump a bit. "At least it's not afraid of a Bunnelby." Clare muttered.

I ignored her as much as possible for the rest of the walk, until we finally reached Aquacorde Town. More people, but still not much. Clare and I are very familiar with the Town, given we're here almost everyday, either picking up equipment or just hanging out.

Walking into the town I saw my friend, Coron. Now, Coron and Clare were like opposites. Coron's a lot more adventurous, easy to talk to, independent, attractive— wait, what? ...She's a good friend. Unlike the monster standing next to me. I've tried introducing the two, but the only people Clare's use to talking to is Ma and I, so each encounter comes out rather... awkward.

Aware of the developing situation, I turn the other direction, just as Coron's brown eyes spot me. "Heyy! Danny! Come over here!" She stood waving her arm pursuing my attention. Hesitating a bit, I finally turned around.

"Hey, Coron." I muttered with lack of soul.

She motioned for me to come over and I complied.

"Danny! Let this guy know how good of a trainer I am!" She pointed accusingly at his face. Him; sitting on a bench, gazing at the pointer. He seemed weird, maybe the way he was dressed, or his white, spikelike hair. Maybe he was from another region.

I rubbed my chin, "Well, I'm not a trainer so.." A dreadful glare from Coron made my mouth move much faster, "..so— I think she's pretty good." I tried a smile.

The guy looked at me, arms stretched out across the bench he laid upon. As if not caring about the argument whatsoever, he looked up at the clouds in a dazed fashion. We expected a response but he just kept a staring, in a trance it seemed.

"Uhh, you okay?" Coron called, looking a bit creeped out.

"Huh?" He popped out of his daze, "Oh! Yeah, man. I'm alright." I noted this guy to be, in fact a weirdo, though I didn't want to judge too much, he continued. "Look, why don't we just settle it out wit' a good ol' fashion Pokémon battle? You in?"

Coron pondered a moment before hopping up and pointing to his face again, "Yeah! But when I kick your butt, you'll have to admit I'm better!"

"Alright." The guy stood, rubbing the back of his head and making his way to the park clearing in which everyone used for Pokémon battles. Flat dirt. Coron quickly followed and I glanced at Clare who was both fidgeting and mouthing the words, "I'll actually buy you food if we leave now." Though it sounded like a good deal, I couldn't just get up and leave, what if Coron saw? With this in mind, I motioned Clare to come over and sit, reassuring her that it'd be a quick match.

"I guess you're right." She said as she finally sat down next to me. "But if it does take a while, you're paying for lunch." I sighed and shrugged before seeing the match about to start.

"Go, Bunnelby!" I shivered at it's presence, making Clare tease me a bit by imitating it's huge eyes. "What're you waiting for? Send out your Pokémon." Coron insisted.

The guy took his red backpack off and tossed out a Pokéball. All of our mouths dropped to see a Haxorus pop out. It was looking at the Bunnelby with "seriously?" spelled on it's face. The Bunnelby ditto'd his expression before the trainer returned his Pokémon.

"Oh. Sorry about that.." he mused as he called back the huge dragon. At this point I had jumped behind the bench as if it would protect me. Even Clare was a bit scared, or at least enough not to tease. Poking my head up, I saw Coron shuddering a bit, though remaining ready to fight. As reluctant as I knew she was, even she should have just returned the little bunny- rabbit thing and called it a match.

The red backpack continued to be ruffled through, the guy mumbling something before he finally smiled, "This should be it!" He successfully announced and threw out another Pokéball. This time, instead of a giant, terrifying Haxorus, out came a tiny, blue frog. "Were you hiding from me, Froakie?" He gave a cheesy smile.

"Can we just start!?" Coron demanded impatiently, likely still flustered by his previous Pokémon.

"Nah, we need an announcer first, man." He frowned before pointing to me, "You, Danny was it? Come be the announcer of our battle."

I sighed after hearing Clare's giggle and walked over to the field. "Begin!" I said with as much enthusiasm as possible but the man protested, holding up his hand as to say 'hold on'. "What?" I questioned.

"Do it properly, bro. The name's Alex, introduce our names to the audience." Alex said.

"What audience?" I followed his pointing finger to Clare who sat on the bench, both legs and arms crossed. I watched her shrug and mouth "Just get it over with so we can go..". I nodded.

Clearing my throat, "Ahem! Ladies and gentleman, on the left we have Coron and the normal type, Bunnelby! And on the right we have Alex and his water type, Froakie! You may begin!" I sighed once more, a bit embarrassed, Clare almost falling out of her bench laughing and Alex giving me a thumbs up. He slouched and put his hands in his pocket, as if it would help him focus on the battle.

"Start off with a smokescreen, Froak." The bubble frog did as it was told and launched the black gas into the air, covering half the field. "Now water pulse in it's direction." The water pulse was thrown in the smokescreen.

"That's weird" I said, sitting down next to Clare.

"Really?" Clare said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "How so?"

I ignored the sarcasm. "Froakie doesn't usually learn smokescreen until it evolves. Not only that, but he gave Bunnelby the advantage, last time I checked, Froakie can't just see through a smokescreen."

"Maybe he's just stupid— hey, you know awfully a lot for someone who dislikes Pokémon." She glanced at me, twirling her hair.

"Know your enemy." I stated firmly. She laughed. I looked back to the field to see Bunnelby pop up from the ground behind Froakie, using dig. Though it seemed not to surprise the Froakie at all as it delivered a harsh pound to the Bunnelby upon Alex's command.

"Now another water pulse." Alex said, the Froakie following his order immediately.

"Dodge and use quick attack!" Coron commanded. Bunnelby had just barely been hit by the sphere of water before managing to dodge. It pounced off of the ground and dashed straight at Froakie, full speed.

"Growl!" Alex said, his Froakie reacting quite fast, let out a loud growl right in the Bunnelby's face. Quick attack still landed, though I would assume it delivered a lot less damage since growl lowers attack. It had been timed perfectly, quick attacks were indeed hard to avoid.

"Smart.." I quietly suggested, making Clare roll her eyes.

"That was pretty good, man." Alex commented as his Froakie landed perfectly on the ground, seemingly unharmed. "But it still looks like you gonna lose."

Worried eyes fell to Coron's face, her and I knowing he was right. Though not much had happened with their health points, Bunnelby was slowly getting outclassed. "Bunnelby, use leer!"

Before it could heed it's command, "Quick attack, Froakie." and the frog smashed into Bunnelby, making it fly off toward Coron. "Now, while it's down, use bubble toward the sky."Bubbles soon filled the adjacent sky above, just floating. This was also out of the ordinary, he clearly likes his field advantage, first the smokescreen, now this.

"Bunnelby! Get up and hit him with a double slap!" The rabbit panted some before willing itself forward, holding out both arms.

Alex brought his hand to his head. "My Froakie is a 'her', not a 'him', man. And you'll never win being as straight forward as you are." He chuckled as Coron let out fumes of anger. "Yo, Froak, throw a water pulse at the ground below you." The impact caused a small blast of mixed water and dirt, though the water seemed superior and made the ground slippery enough for Bunnelby to trip and fall right in at the mercy of Froakie. This guy was actually pretty creative. But he had more to show, it would seem.

"Now while you have the chance, uppercut him with a pound to the bubbles above!" Froakie's arm started to glow before she smashed her fist into the Bunnelby, sending it a few feet up, though not enough to hit the bubbles. "Smokescreen from below, now. High pressure!" I saw Clare's jaw drop as the smokescreen lifted the Bunnelby up, into the bubbles, as well as dragging the surrounding bubbles into the screen of black smoke. I was speechless as I saw the entirety of the cluster explode in shiny dust.

"Woah." Clare said, watching Bunnelby descend from the shining cloud of smoke, knocked out.

"Good stuff." He said to Coron who was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Alex returned his Froakie and shoved it back into his bag, giving a piece sign to her as he walked toward me. "Yo." He said.

"Hey?" I was a bit confused when I said it.

"You got skills bro. That announcing really got me hype. Listen, you need that Caterpie you holdin'?" He pointed at the tank, Caterpie was again, dozing off.

"Uhh, it's not for sale." I said, holding it up and taking a look at it.

"Oh, alright, that's cool. Let me know if you lose interest in it." Alex said, I nodded.

"Hey!" Coron came, running with the unconscious Bunnelby in her arms. Alex and I turned toward her. "Where did you learn to fight like that?!" She questioned excitedly, as if she were now his biggest fan. Alex scratched the back of his head.

"Hmm, when did I?" He asked himself. I turned to look at Clare who was ready to go while he thought. She was motioning "Let's go eat." and I turned back to Alex, hearing her sigh. "Oh, I know. Probably after I hit up Sinnoh, man."

"Hit up Sinnoh?" Coron questioned his speech.

"Yeah, Pokémon Contests were all the rage over there, and I guess it affected the way I did Pokémon battles. Really opened my eyes to how straight forward trainers battled." He sighed, "Still, I could get better, man. I intend to, anyway." Alex threw out a Pokéball that summoned an Altaria and hopped on it's back. "Well I'm off to go chill somewhere, see you two newbies around, maybe."

I waved him off, unable to decide if I were insulted or not. Coron turned to me, "I guess I'm really not that good of a Pokémon trainer, huh." She said, sulking a bit.

"No! You are, that guy was just on another level!" I said, giving a fake smile and rubbing my head.

"Can we just go eat?!" Clare yelled out. My stomach growled and I nodded.

"Eat? Sure! I'm hungry too!" Coron chimed in, smiling.

"Can she come?" I asked.

An angry "Fine." was Clare's response. "But she has to return that thing in it's Pokéball, it's just weird to carry a fainted Pokémon around like that." Coron smiled and nodded, returning the Pokémon.

On our way to the restaurant, Coron had noticed something and tugged on my jacket. "Hey, Danny?" I turned around, "Weren't you carrying a Caterpie before?"

I looked to see that the tank was indeed... Empty.


	2. Know Your Friend

**Okay, next chappy! Enjoy~**

* * *

"How come when I call you Danny, there's a problem? But when _she _does it-!"

I sighed miselrably, cutting Clare off. We've been searching for Caterpie for the longest five minutes of my life, while Clare found twelve different things to complain about, starting off with "We should have just left before this happened." Coron was searching the field she had just battled Alex in, so that left Clare and I to retrace our steps.

"Look, Alex probably took it." she suggested, twirling her hair as I ruffled through a bush. "He did ask you for it, after all."

"Exactly." I responded, standing up to check another bush, "Why would he ask me for something he would just later take?" I gave off an irritated tone.

"I'm just stating what makes sense." Sighing_,_ she continued, "He wanted a Caterpie. You had a Caterpie, now you don't. He _took_ it."

Arising from yet another empty bush, I grabbed her hand, placing some money into it. "Go get Caterpie some food.'' I stated before walking off.

"Hey- wait! Where are you going?"

"Route two." Heading toward the trees, I stomped, mad. But I couldn't decide what I was mad about. I undoubtedly don't get along with Pokémon, and here was I was looking for one. One that frankly ticked me off by doing absolutely nothing. I thought more into it. Maybe I was actually mad at Alex, maybe I didn't want to admit it. Maybe I did believe he stole it, and that anger was driving me to find and take the Caterpie back.

I didn't want to admit it at the time, but I've concluded that I in fact liked the Caterpie_,_ it was the first Pokémon I had been in contact with for more than twenty-four hours and hadn't hurt me or posed any threats to my well-being. This one was different, and I guess I didn't want to give it away just yet.

"Hey! Caterpie!" I heard Coron call out from back at the field of dirt, still looking for the bug, hoping it would hear her voice. Man, was she loud. It was the kind of sound a bug would run away from, not scurry toward.

Nearing route two, I looked up to see the clouds had gotten dark and frowned. Sighing, I brought my head down. "It's about to rain." I muttered to myself, kicking the dirt. At that moment, I realized I had been kicking my friend, seeing what looked like dog footprints that guided, though in a very derogatory fashion, into the forest. "Just another dreadful Pokémon." I thought, but the tracks lead back to the field, it seemed whatever this _thing_ was, it had been in quite a hurry. I wanted to ensure that my assumption was correct, but as the rain began to drop, the tracks dissolved. If I was going to do this I had to hurry.

I ran._ I ran! _For a_ Pokémon! _It was as if I wasn't thinking. Nonetheless, I dashed through the woods, over the dirt that was slowly being submerged by droplets of rain. I heard Clare's voice call out to me, though it was drowned out by the constant _clatter_ of the rain. My eye caught the glimpse of a puppy-like figure while following the track. That had to be it! I ran as fast as I could, slowly approaching the silhouette. As I got closer I saw that the figure had been a Lillipup, and in it's mouth was Caterpie. Tackling the Pokémon and rolling through the mud, I got a hold of both the Lillipup and Caterpie. I looked at both of them, the dog struggling to get out of my grasp and the bug seemingly indifferent. Wait- was I facing my fears?

Smiling at the thought, I noticed my beanie had fallen off during the roll, and my brown hair was being caressed by water from the skies above. I smiled through it all though, I'm sure I looked like an idiot. I didn't care, Pokémon were no longer my enemy, but my prey.

As if to shut me up, killing any idiotic pride that had made it's way into my head, a Shadow Ball flew into my direction. I was frozen by both terror and confusion. The Lillipup took the chance of my surprise to drop out of my hand and tackle me out of the way. Better getting hit by tackle than shadow ball. The attack hit the mud below and I looked as Lillipup fell onto the ground, gasping for breath. "You were running away from something.." I said in realization. The Lillipup stood in great struggle, barking at me as if to say "_No duh!"_

The Caterpie crawled into my jacket somewhere as an Ice Beam had been sent in Lillipup's direction. I don't know if I felt I owed it for saving me from the Shadow Ball, or just merely on reaction, but I ran to the dog and picked it up, dashing away from the attackers who were out of sight in the trees above. I looked down at the panting Lillipup to see his right ear had a tiny hole in it, it looked like it was for some ear piercing, but I'm sure that wasn't the case. It looked up at me barking, insisting that I looked up. What awaited my vision was another Shadow Ball right above me.

I jumped, just an inch away from losing my head and fell, before quickly crawling behind the trunk of a tree. I peaked out and my eyes widened upon the sight. Our pursuers were not Pokémon like I had thought. They were white haired, just the same shade as Alex's, but not as spike-like, humans! Both of covered their eyes with black sashes, and had the numbers _62 _and_ 107 _on their shoulders in black. "Let our brothers go before you get hurt." _62 _said.

Brothers? Now put yourself in my shoes, you can imagine I had so much questions right now, but all didn't compare to the one: "What am I even doing here right now!?" They were walking up to my location behind the trunk. I cringed, hearing the splashes of footsteps getting closer and closer until Lillipup found the strength to stand looking at me with hope in it's eyes. I hesitated for a moment, having a Pokémon on my lap wasn't the craziest of things going on right now so I wasn't afraid of it being this close to me.

Watching as it willed itself back to it's feet, I got the gist that it still wanted to fight. But how could it in the condition it was in? Maybe it needed a trainer to help, if only Clarissa were here. "Clarissa!" I thought, trailing back to what she said about me becoming a trainer. It always seemed like a joke to me.

_..Though she's mentioned it before, I never really took the time to consider it. A Pokémon trainer? I don't even get along with Pokémon. They're too noisy, saying the same thing over and over again. They never mind their business. They seem to either always want attention, or always want to bug me. But. As this one sat on my lap, my previous accusations of what these things really are were abandoned._

"I can do this." Right when I thought these white haired freaks were going to kill me, Lillipup showed it's determination with a stern face and a bark. "_We _can do this!" I proclaimed, jumping out of my hiding spot, facing the two numbered freaks. _62 _shot out an Ice Beam and I shuddered. "D-Dodge!" I commanded Lillipup, shaking a bit. The puppy listened immediately and jumped to the side. "Use Tackle!" _62 _was attacked by Lillipup promptly after the command. They both fell to the ground.

"Brother, why do you assault me? We are only here to retrieve you and bring you home, where you belong." _62 _said as he stood up from the attack.

Next thing I saw was a dark circle below me, seemingly from _107\. _"Dark Void!" he said, as I was pulled into the abyss of darkness.

"Fennekin, use Tackle!" I heard from the bushes as the wind literally got knocked out of me. Falling into the mud, I saw Clare run to her tinny fox Pokémon. "Are you okay?" she asked Fennekin.

"Is _he _okay?! I'm the one who got hit by a Tackle!" I complained, getting up and holding my stomach in pain. "What are you even doing here?"

"What am _I _doing here?" She quoted me, seemingly baffled, "You're the idiot who ran into the forest without any Pokémon to protect you." Just then, an Ice Beam flew her direction and I pushed her out of the way. My foot was stuck to the ground, frozen solid. As I struggled to liberate myself, a Shadow Ball was shot at me by _107_ once more.

It was no more than an inch away from my face before Lillipup jumped in the way to take the blast. The sphere didn't affect the puppy at all. I had forgotten for a moment that Ghost-type moves don't affect Normal-typed Pokémon, and so the Lillipup took the hit with no damage dealt. I smiled. "Thanks."

_"Pup."_ it said, turning back to our opponents. _107 _was now dashing at us.

"Fennekin, Tackle him!" Clare said, her fox responding immediately. The Tackle phased right through the target before _107_ Shadow Clawed Fennekin, punishing it harshly. Clare was shocked, "W-What are these guys?"

"No clue, but they seem to follow the attributes of Pokémon, which-" I was cut off.

"Well I could've figured that out!"

"Let me finish!" I yelled as Lillipup found it's way back to me. "This means they have weaknesses." Lillipup looked back at me, waiting for a command. I nodded, "You know bite, right?" It smiled before opening it's jaw and delivering a devastating chomp on _107_'s arm, making him shiver in pain. "Ohh," Clare began, "So that other one who used Ice Beam is an Ice-type, right?" I nodded, much to her joy. "Okay Fennekin! Use Flame Charge!" The fox lit on fire and charged at _62_ who was immediately sent flying back. This was awesome! My first Pokémon battle and it wasn't even with actually Pokémon.

As if to kill my joy, another white haired guy descended from the trees above. He also had a black sash over his mouth, but instead of dressed in all white like the others, his attire was all black. This one had the number_ 08_ on his right shoulder. "Enough." he said, the other two standing straight up. He walked up to me, fear driving into my body. "If you do not give both our brothers back in peace," he extended his arm toward Clare causing her to begin levitating, scared out of her mind, "I will end her life."

And there he was. Alex. He came last second as if to seem like the hero. "Listen man," he said, "you hurt her, you get hurt." His arm threw out some volts which seemed to be a warning. "Got it?"

_08_ softly dropped Clare and I ran to her. "Ah, brother _06_. I didn't think you'd show your face." He said.

Alex stared at him with serious, yellow eyes seeming to glow. "It ain't _06_ anymore. The names Alex."

"Okay, 'Alex'. I hope the life of a human doesn't lead you to your demise."_ 08_ smirked, taking a look at the other two. All three nodded in unison and jumped off.

Clare whistled and I just sat there in astonishment. Alex turned to the both of us, "Where the other one at?"

Maybe he was referring to Coron? "Never mind that! Who were those people!?" I asked, in want of answers, "Why were they after Lillipup? Why did they call him 'brother'?"

Alex sighed, "Can we get some roofs above us, before I start explaining? This weather's killin' me, man." We nodded and walked off. Lillipup was following me with a limp so I picked him up and he licked me, smiling. I froze before accepting it's appreciation, rubbing its ear to get it to stop licking me.

A short while after, we reached the restaurant we had intended to be at hours before.

"Wow! People who were using Pokémon moves to fight!" Coron announced at the table, overly impressed, "Were they hot?" She questioned me as if I swung that way.

Ignoring her, I shot my attention at the sleeping Lillipup under the table by the window where we sat. It had still been weird to have a Pokémon so close to me, but I tried to get used to it. Looking back up to Alex, I noticed he was once again spaced out, his arms outstretched and looking up.

Coron sat down next to me, "So, were they?" she asked, getting a bit too close, and making me back up into Clare who was checking her Fennekin for anymore wounds. I pushed her off, getting hit by Clare in the process.

"They were a'ight. Nothin' special." The three of us turned to Alex as he made the comment. "What?"

Coron sighed, and I leaned back into my seat. Clare just gave him the most disturbed look.

Changing the subject, "So, are you going to tell us what those things were? Or at least what they wanted?"

Alex slouched onto the table. "Those things were Diakon. And they wanted that Lillipup ya got restin' on your leg. You were better off leaving it alone, man."

Coron looked down at the Lillipup, "Oh, I just noticed! So cute!" she squealed.

"What do you mean, 'better off'?" I asked.

"And what the heck is a Diakon?" Clare added.

Alex sighed, "A Diakon is a Pokémon formed to _look _human, they really aren't. And I mean you shouldn't have stuck your nose into something like this, Danny."

"It's Daniel." I said.

He nodded, "_Daniel, _you better watch your back. Diakon are pretty persistent, I would know, I use to be one." Alex smiled.

Coron gasped, but Clare remained unimpressed. "That was obvious. I saw lighting bolts spring out of your arm."

"You had lightning on your hand!?" Coron jumped, "Again, do it again!"

"What do you mean, 'use to'?" I asked, curious.

Alex buried his cheek into the palm of his hand, "'Diakon' comes from the Greek word, 'Diakonos', which means servant. I'm not a servant, to _anyone. _Not anymore, at least."

"And why would they want Lillipup?"

"Yeah, I was getting to that." He said, "That Lillipup may be special breaded. Same for the Caterpie. Check if they have holes on their ears or somethin'." I knew Lillipup had one, but the Caterpie who was resting in the sleeve of my jacket having one on it's horn was surprising. I nodded before he continued, "Yep. That'll do it. You're in some trouble." Alex chuckled. I frowned, that's not funny.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You saw what happened, you almost got killed." He lowered his head, "I can help though. But I can't stay in this town. I have to fly to Coumarine City tonight."

"Wait!" Coron shouted, "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. Daniel, I need to ask you something. Can you meet me in Luminous in a week?"

I was surprised that he asked for me specifically, "Me? Why me?"

"'Cause you have Lillipup, bro." He said, simply put.

"Can't you just take it?" I protested. I wasn't ready for a journey, and I frankly didn't want to go on one. I'm pretty sure I got lucky with this special breaded dog, and didn't want to take my chances again.

"Na. Lillipups are extremely loyal, he wouldn't go with me even if I begged at this point, I mean, he's sleeping on your foot." He poked his head under the table to look at Lillipup once more before popping back up, "Besides man, I'm sure you'll have fun. I need to handle some stuff with Calem, so just do me a favor and keep your eyes on it."

"Calem? You mean the champion?" Coron asked.

Alex muttered, "That's such a dumb title." before nodding. Clare was looking at him in surprise now. I'm sure since it was her dream to become champion this would get her excited. With all that said, he stood from his chair. "So, will I see you there, Daniel?" I thought for a moment. If what he said about Lillipup and Caterpie were true, then these Pokémon must've been strong, defending myself could be easy if these Diakon do actually come after me again. Plus it was only a week, I'd be alright. Making up my mind, I nodded.

"Good." He said, "Seven days." After that, he walked out of the restaurant rather lazily. We watched him throw out his Altaria and take off.

"Are you really doing this?" Clare asked.

"I wouldn't have said yes if I wasn't." I shrugged, "And it's just seven days, I'll be back soon."

Coron, bouncing up and down, "Yes! You've finally accepted the awesome presence of Pokémon! You absolutely _have _to battle me." Clare stood up as she sensed that Coron would start a rant of praise.

"I'll be back." she quietly said to me before heading off somewhere in the restaurant.

"What was it like? Your first Pokémon battle, right?" I nodded, looking to try and see where Clare had headed off. Coron noticed this and settled down, "Hey, Danny."

I turned back to her, she seemed serious for once, which was weird. The only time she got serious was when someone insulted her. Coron looked me straight in my eyes, I blushed. Were we having an intimate moment? She leaned in, "You know how you and Clarissa say you hate each other?"

Cursing, I leaned back, "Yeah.." I had thought the conversation was going somewhere else and I'd finally get my first kiss but- Clarissa. Of course she has to ruin my day even while absent.

"Well, I've been thinking. Maybe you two actually like each other and don't want to admit it?" I looked to see if she was joking, but I couldn't even detect a smile.

"What!?" I screamed, surprised. After getting a bunch of _shhhhhh_'s from the restaurant, followed by a "Shut up, kid!" I let out a laugh. "How did you get to that conclusion?" I asked, still hoping she was just joking.

"Well, you two seem pretty close. And I see you guys hanging out all the time." I could feel Lillipup awaken, jumping onto my lap and falling back asleep, I froze for a moment. Still wasn't used to it. Coron continued, "Oh yeah, and you guys always call each other nicknames, 'Danny' and 'Clare'."

I sighed, "Listen, I don't like her. And I'm sure she doesn't like me, in fact the only reason you see us hanging out is because she wants to get close to my mom. I'm sure if my mom wasn't a retired Gym Leader, she wouldn't spend one second with me."

Coron said nothing, watching as Clare sat back in her seat, hearing the whole thing. I watched, waiting for for her to say something.

"That's not true." she said, more emotionless than I'd ever seen her before. My eyes widened, Lillipup perked up as well, and Caterpie popped it's head out of my jacket. "I also spend time with you for the free food." She handed a small paper off to me that listed what she wanted to order.

"I told you earlier you'd be paying for lunch." Clare announced, smiling as I sighed.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_

**Hi! Sorry for the plot cluster chapter, but it had to be said. Hope it wasn't too boring and wish to see you in the next chapter great and valued reader! Now I can get back to a more comedic tune of things~**


End file.
